Rod/
Vibrato & String Bender
Just curious. Gonna look for a used one with no neck binding at some point
What year did PRS Strat putting neck binding on the Santana?
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bodia
Authorities said.....best leave it.....unsolved
As far as I remember, they introduced the neck binding on the Santana Retro, which was 2018 or 2019, if I recall correctly. None of the Santanas I've owned before that have not had neck binding.
Jo-
f-hole lover
What is the purpose of the neck binding? Is it just for show? I must say I prefer the necks without the binding (bodies too .. I love the faux binding of plain maple). I really wish the McCarty 594's didn't have the neck binding but it's not a huge issue.. I just wondered if there was some special reason for it.
Birdsofprey
PRS Tesseract
sergiodeblanc
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I don’t know, PRS got me conditioned to no longer feel binding was a sign of a more upscale guitar, now they’re adding it to guitars..
Rod/
Vibrato & String Bender
I thought (at least on the 594 series) that Paul wanted those guitars to be an alternative to Gibson players that would expect plastic binding on the neck. The scale length, the vastly updated tunamatic bridge, the bigger necks, the milder PAF type pickups ect ect…. Sort of makes sense…. And thats potentially a huge market. From a business standpoint it makes total sense Although maple binding would be cool, like what McNaught does with his LP variant…..
It’s funny for me because I played LP’s exclusively for many years and I love the original PRS designs, scale length, no neck binding, original sounding pickups so much more these days that I have no interest in the 594’s..
As far as the Santana is concerned, maybe Carlos likes binding on em that way now….
What I don’t understand is why the McCarty model ended up with neck binding…….I’ll be looking for an older one someday
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bodia
Authorities said.....best leave it.....unsolved
It only counts as upscale when it's not plastic. A nice maple binding would be upscale, like a Breitling. Plastic binding is like a Casio (no offense to any Casio wearers).
sergiodeblanc
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I don’t think I’ve seen Carlos rockin’ a Santana for about 5 years now, he’s been all about the Singlecut(s) it seems. Too bad they don’t make any.
Jo-
f-hole lover
Exactly … the couple things that always put me off the 594s was the binding and the vintage tuners. I’m glad I found a 594 with locking tuners, but it would have been perfect without any neck binding. Especially as it is a solid rosewood neck and Brazzie board. Plastic on rosewood … really? Ugh. But I guess if it makes Gibson players happy so they switch over to PRS then I guess that’s a good thing.
bodia
Authorities said.....best leave it.....unsolved
My pleasure!
Alnus Rubra
Loving nature’s wonders
I feel that maple binding on a mahogany neck, rosewood/ebony fretboard is a cosmetic thing, creating a tonal boundary between the darker woods.
I have an acoustic with rosewood back and sides, with flamed Ash binding and it kind of looks nice that way.
I have an acoustic with rosewood back and sides, with flamed Ash binding and it kind of looks nice that way.
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Originally a bound neck helped prevent fret-sprout, where the tangs break through the finish as the wood shrinks. That causes fret ends to feel sharp on an unbound neck. A binding helped give a guitar a smoother feel when moving your hands along the edge.
PRSes have nicely aged wood, so that's minimized, but occasionally it still happens. However, I like PRS' both ways. Two of my PS models are bound, two are not.
It's also a fine luthierie tradition dating back to at least the 17th Century. Check out this original Stradivari guitar:
Rod/
Vibrato & String Bender
Les, you’re always full of great information….
sergiodeblanc
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And Santana’s originally came with “hidden” fret tangs. Maybe the binding thing is to make up for it since the pricing of Santana’s has been greatly reduced.
Making guitars less expensive isn’t usually a thing.
Jo-
f-hole lover
Oh yes, of course, fret sprout. I should have thought of that! That's why PRS were always such great guitars the wood was cured well and didn't really shrink. I feel so spoiled always having such nice, well made guitars to play. I forget how crappy some of the others are.
I have the hidden fret tangs on my PS acoustic. The neck feels so smooth.
Most people tell me I'm full of something else!
I agree with you. It's hard to reconcile myself to non-PRS instruments for a lot of reasons.
For the most part, we talk about the obvious stuff - the build quality, the silky feel, the looks, and so on. But there are also the practical realities like fret ends that rarely become problematic, hardware that stays functional for a long time, knobs that actually do worthwhile tone things, pickups that sound good in the first place and don't need to be swapped out, etc.
For me, however, the big thing is they sound the way I want a guitar to sound. Everything else is just gravy.
DISTORT6
NJ Devil
Gtrbldr
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I think both look nice. However a bound neck usually has an advantage with regards to visibility of fret markers IMO.
My old CE24 has gold markers on a rosewood fretboard... I think. Can hardly see them on a dark stage. Not ideal if you ask me.
My old CE24 has gold markers on a rosewood fretboard... I think. Can hardly see them on a dark stage. Not ideal if you ask me.
